Schlagwort: 2pt interactive

Heavenly Bodies is now only a day away from launch! We’re in near disbelief that the time has finally come but are beyond excited to see our game in everyone’s hands.

To get everyone prepared for their inevitably troublesome time aboard the station, we’ve prepared a tips and tricks checklist. It’s a must-read for anyone aspiring to be an outstanding cosmonaut.

Tips and tricks for mastering Heavenly Bodies

Heavenly Bodies has a highly unique physics-based movement system unlike any other game. You must solely use your hands and arms to move your character and perform maintenance tasks in zero-g. Unsurprisingly, some find it tricky, so we’ve got some advice for those struggling to come to grips.

Choose your movement style

We’ve designed multiple ‘movement styles’ in Heavenly Bodies that present different ways for moving your character. Each offers a different challenge level, and we encourage you to find the one that works for you.

Classic: This default style provides a good combination of challenge and fun. You’ll need to keep a firm grip to move around effectively, but we’ve made some exceptions to physical realism which make it easier to spin and ‘swim’ through the air by swinging your arms.

Assisted: For players who may appreciate some ease of motion. Simply pointing your hands in the direction you want to travel will effortlessly move the character along. It’s fun… and rather liberating.

Newtonian: The ‘physically accurate’ style for those seeking the full zero gravity experience. None of this ‘space swimming’ nonsense. Every action has a punishingly equal and opposite reaction.

Hold on!

The best way to get the job done is by using your hands. Keeping a firm grip on solid surfaces will help you push and pull your body around and will give you the leverage you need when flicking switches or using tools.  

Consult the manual

When in doubt, the Operations Manual will give you the need-to-knows. Check it out during missions for your next objectives and for key details you won’t want to miss. Plus, it just looks nice.

Keep the camera aligned

There’s no ‘up’ in space, but you’ll know when you’re upside-down. If you ever find yourself topsy-turvy, hit square to realign the camera with your cosmonaut.

Try Grab Toggle and other control options

Weightlessness can be taxing on the body, and for extended space missions it’s not unreasonable for fatigue to set in. If you find grabbing/holding too strenuous, try enabling the Grab Toggle option. This will make the grabbing action toggle on and off, as opposed to having to hold it down. This can also be handy when moving objects over a long distance.

There are plenty of options to explore in the controls menu, and we encourage you to tune them to find the configuration that works best for you.

Bring a friend

If the void of space is all too much on your own, try calling on a friend via local co-op. You can also invite them to an online session with PlayStation Share Play.  

Don’t give up!

Professional cosmonauts train for years before taking to the stars, so don’t lose faith! With time and practice you’ll be moving around like the best of them.

We hope that you’re now prepared for all the challenges the weightless world will offer when Heavenly Bodies releases tomorrow. See you up above.

Website: LINK

After almost three years in development, we’re thrilled to announce that Heavenly Bodies will be launching on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on December 7, 2021. We’ve been working hard to make this game everything we’d imagined, and we can’t wait to share it with you. Our new gameplay trailer below hints at some of the varied, alluring and often ridiculous scenarios you’ll find yourselves in, whether playing solo or with a space pal via local co-op.

Play Video

The art of Heavenly Bodies

Previously, we’ve written about how the game feels to play and what you’ll be doing out there in space. To celebrate the game being so close to release, we thought we’d dive into the reference that inspired us and how Heavenly Bodies came to look the way it does.

Visual direction

The game’s visual style is influenced by mid-century technical illustrations, archival imagery of early space flight exploration and cutaway drawings that allow the viewer to see detailed structures. Our goal has been to create something that appears more like an artist’s interpretation of space rather than striving for realism. The work of Soviet architect and designer Galina Balashova and NASA collaborator illustrator Russ Arasmith has been vital in informing our visual language.

Image credit: Artwork by Russ Arasmith, Date Unknown. NASA

Capturing illustrative qualities in a real-time context

To reproduce this bold, graphical and analogue aesthetic, we first analysed what it was that we needed to effectively reproduce in an interactive, real-time context. The key features we wanted to include were:

●   high contrast between highlights, mid-tones and shadows with little blending in between;

●   the ability to replicate illustrative techniques such as hatching and stippling;

●   grain that feels relative to the scale of the objects in the scene;

●   ability to control the roughness of an object;

●   texture support for hand painted details.

The results of our initial experiments are below, and we felt they were an early step in the right direction.

Once we’d encapsulated these properties in real-time 3d on smaller objects, we were keen to apply them to larger, playable environments.

Our main considerations in translating this style across to Heavenly Bodies were:

●   prioritising the playable space and interactive objects over unnecessary detail or clutter;

●   using colour to highlight essential items and different interaction types;

●   preferencing analogue technology and large forms that communicate their operation.

Here’s a look at the scenario ‘Data’ in the game, where you can see all of these elements coming together.

Communications Terminal and Operations Manual concepts

The information required to complete the task at hand is delivered from Mission Control via the Communications Terminal in every level. This information arrives as a paper printout which is then added to the Operations Manual carried by the player.

The Operations Manual is informed by NASA handbooks and checklists issued to astronauts for quick reference in stressful situations, of which there are plenty in the game. Preferencing analogue technology over digital, modern and sci-fi is an underlying direction for the game. Below are some early concepts for the clunky Communications Terminal, followed by an example of the materials they dispense in the level ‘Energy’.

Memorabilia reference

Throughout the game we’ve hidden a bunch of special collectable items for players to find and send back to Mission Control to be placed proudly on display. These collectables are our nod to significant achievements in space history, such as Sputnik, the first satellite put into orbit, and the Voyager Golden Record that blasted through the cosmos containing the sounds of our universe, and more, which we’ll leave for you to discover.

The artwork for the PlayStation trophies are our way of acknowledging the efforts of our brave cosmonauts, commemorating their efforts in the form of a physical artefact for players to collect and reflect on—creating their own history of memorable events. Vintage space memorabilia, including stamps, matchboxes, pins and badges, were integral sources of reference, so making our own set of assets felt like a great way to pay tribute to a past era of space exploration.

Our love of historical space illustration extends to every corner of Heavenly Bodies, and we’ve aimed to capture the magic of mid-century graphic illustration wherever possible. For us, this era embodies the early romanticism and optimism of space travel. While loosely set in the late 60s, early 70s, we’ve adapted events and technologies from later decades to create the kinds of scenarios we want players to experience, and we hope you enjoy it.See you in orbit! Heavenly Bodies releases for PS4 and PS5 on December 7, 2021 – you can wishlist the game here.

Website: LINK

Hello! Alex here, I’m a designer and the technical lead at 2pt Interactive. As many of you may know, we’re the little indie studio making the challenging, physics-based game Heavenly Bodies.

Ahead of our fast-approaching 2021 release (put it in your diaries, folks), I wanted to take some time to share why we’re so excited to be working with the PS5 to make our passion project.

A quick refresher

For those who aren’t as familiar with it, Heavenly Bodies is a game about cosmonauts, the body, and the absence of gravity. You move the limbs of a weightless, physically simulated space engineer (or two, in local co-op) to assemble and maintain structures and systems aboard a rickety space station. Your assigned tasks will often appear straightforward, but without gravity to keep you grounded, even the most mundane requests will require wit and willful coordination to perform.

Make sense? Okay, Welcome aboard.

Why we love using the DualSense wireless controller

At its heart, Heavenly Bodies has been created with the love for rich detail, physicality, and tactility. We’ve engineered a uniquely challenging movement scheme which lets you manipulate each limb of your weightless body. While (very) tricky at first, these flexible controls paired with physically simulated environments make for a world that begs to be tinkered with.

With a game that quite literally requires you to feel your way through the environments, you can only imagine our excitement with the opportunity to use the features of the DualSense controller. With the triggers used to grasp your cosmonaut’s hands and a chaotic, zero-g environment where bumps and thumps are inevitable, it made so much sense for us to use the adaptive triggers and haptic functions to transport you into the floppy suit you see on screen.

Feel the palms of your hands… at your fingertips

The best way to play Heavenly Bodies is by using your cosmonaut’s hands. You’ll need to grip with the triggers to grab onto objects and to push yourself off walls. The DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers are remarkable at communicating what objects and surfaces are within your cosmonaut’s grasp.

For example, when doing some weeding in the oxygen garden, you’ll feel the delicate stalkiness of dry plants compared to the thick, hard metal framework of the station.

And this scrunchy piece of paper? You can bet it feels scrunchy.

What’s really cool, and somewhat terrifying, is sensing objects and surfaces ripped from your grasp when your hands can’t quite hang on.

Sensing the bumps and thumps of the job through your suit

A whole new sensory dimension is added from the DualSense controller haptics. To support the physicality of movement, it’s important to us that you can feel all the bumps and thumps of your body up against surfaces and objects. You can only imagine what being trapped in a soil centrifuge would feel like, but soon you won’t have to:

We’ve also designed a system which allows vibrations from around the station to transmit across surfaces and into your arms. You’ll be able to feel equipment buzzing through the walls, or pressurised fizzy drink cans blasting like small rockets:

The sounds of space, in 3D

While space aficionados will rightly tell you that there’s no sound in space, we’ve taken some guilty pleasure in filling our environments (air-pressurised, or otherwise) with the rich sounds of space station equipment. 

The PS5’s impressive 3D audio works to envelope you in the buzzes, beeps and groans emanating from around the station. A particular highlight for us is when you’re tasked to navigate a mineral extraction pod through a dense asteroid field. The violent, metallic thumps of the asteroid rocks bashing against the pod always leaves a grin on our faces.

That’s all we have for today! Remember, Heavenly Bodies is coming in 2021, so keep your eyes peeled for release announcements soon!

Website: LINK